Spring Break
Speaker denies Israeli Apartheid
by Matthew Kriegsman and Rachel Marder
News | 10/23/07
Posted online at 9:46 PM EST on 10/22/07
/ Last updated at 6:15 AM EST on 10/22/07
Benjamin Pogrund, a former South African journalist who was jailed for his writings on apartheid, condemned labeling Israel as "the new Apartheid" in the first event sponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies Wednesday afternoon.
Around 65 students and members of the public attended the event, "Is Israel the New Apartheid State?" held in Golding 110.
Pogrund, the founding director of the Yakar Center for Social Concern in Jerusalem, emphasized the difference between his experience growing up in Apartheid South Africa, the system of government-sponsored racial segregation, and the experience of Arabs and Palestinians under Israeli control. While minorities in Israel are oppressed, he said, the system under which they live doesn't resemble Apartheid and any comparison between the two is offensive.
"Anyone who knows South Africa would laugh if you said Israel is an Apartheid state," Pogrund said.
The motive for making this comparison, he said, is to delegitimize Israel.
While Pogrund criticized Israel for its control in the West Bank and its discriminatory policies toward Arab citizens, ultimately, he said the two societies are incompatible.
"The vote is there. The vote means power and they have the ability to apply it," he said of Arabs in Israel. During Apartheid South Africa, Pogrund said blacks weren't citizens and couldn't vote.
While it has evolved over time, the definition of Apartheid, always denotes white supremacy and racial segregation, he said. In Israel, Jews and Arabs both range in skin color and the comparison is misunderstood, he said.
"To compare Israel to pre-1994 South Africa is simply not valid," Pogrund said. "Apartheid relates to the color of your skin, a means of separating race by a physical contrast. End of story."
The United Nations convened an anti-racism conference in 2001, adopting a resolution denouncing Israel as an Apartheid state and calling on nations to adopt an international policy of isolation toward Israel. Pogrund criticized the United Nations for cheapening the experience of Apartheid by applying it erroneously.
Around 65 students and members of the public attended the event, "Is Israel the New Apartheid State?" held in Golding 110.
Pogrund, the founding director of the Yakar Center for Social Concern in Jerusalem, emphasized the difference between his experience growing up in Apartheid South Africa, the system of government-sponsored racial segregation, and the experience of Arabs and Palestinians under Israeli control. While minorities in Israel are oppressed, he said, the system under which they live doesn't resemble Apartheid and any comparison between the two is offensive.
"Anyone who knows South Africa would laugh if you said Israel is an Apartheid state," Pogrund said.
The motive for making this comparison, he said, is to delegitimize Israel.
While Pogrund criticized Israel for its control in the West Bank and its discriminatory policies toward Arab citizens, ultimately, he said the two societies are incompatible.
"The vote is there. The vote means power and they have the ability to apply it," he said of Arabs in Israel. During Apartheid South Africa, Pogrund said blacks weren't citizens and couldn't vote.
While it has evolved over time, the definition of Apartheid, always denotes white supremacy and racial segregation, he said. In Israel, Jews and Arabs both range in skin color and the comparison is misunderstood, he said.
"To compare Israel to pre-1994 South Africa is simply not valid," Pogrund said. "Apartheid relates to the color of your skin, a means of separating race by a physical contrast. End of story."
The United Nations convened an anti-racism conference in 2001, adopting a resolution denouncing Israel as an Apartheid state and calling on nations to adopt an international policy of isolation toward Israel. Pogrund criticized the United Nations for cheapening the experience of Apartheid by applying it erroneously.
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